Cotton-picker



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A. S. MARTIN.

COTTON PIGKER.

No. 694,481. Patented Nov. 30,1897.

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fairs STATES ATENT men COTTON-PICKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,481, dated November 30,1897.

Application filed April 30, 1896- Serial No. 589 ,711. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANTHONY S. MARTIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Maiden, in the county of Catawba and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Cotton-Picker, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to cotton-pickers, and has for its object to provide a simple, durable, and efficient device adapted to be drawn by horse-power parallel with a row of cottonplants and provided with m echanism for picking the cotton and conveying it to a suitable apron, by-which it is carried to the bag, basket, or other receptacle.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a mechanism embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same. Fig. 3 is a rear view. of one of the ground-wheels and contiguous gear by which motion is communicated to the parts of the mechanism. Fig. 4: is a partial transverse section to show a slightly-modified form of deflector.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts'in all the figures of the drawlugs. I

The frame of the improved machine comprises corner-standards 1, connected in pairs at their upper ends by transverse bars 2, and secured to the rear standards are the rearwardly-extending brackets 3, provided with transverse bearings i for the spindles 5 of the ground-wheels 6.

Mounted in bearings at the lower ends of the standards and arranged parallel with the sides of the frame are lower rolls '7, provided at their extremities with sprocket-teeth 8, and mounted in bearings at intermediate points of the standards and respectively above the rolls 7 are the corresponding rolls 9, also provided with sprocket-teeth 10. These rolls are connected at their extremities by the sprocketchains 11, by which motion is communicated from the lower to the upper rolls, motion being communicated to the former from the ground-wheels by means of bevel-gears 12 and 13, secured, respectively, to the groundwheels and the projecting extremities of the spindles of the lower rolls. These rolls also carry the vertical endless picker-aprons 14, provided with flexible picker-fingers l5,whereby as the aprons pass, respectively, upon opposite sides of a row of cotton-plants the fingers upon the inner ascending sides of the aprons engage and detach the cotton and carry it upward to the rolls 9. Said fingers are preferably flexible in order to yield slightly to pressure when brought in contact with the plants, and the construction which I have found efficient in this connection contemplates the use of rubber tubing for the shanks of the fingers, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, the extremity of the shank being armed with radially-disposed spurs or steel pins 16, arranged in a group. These spurs facilitate the detachment of the cotton from the plants and hold the same securely until removed by the contact therewith of stripping-brushes 17. These brushes comprise central cores 18, mounted at their extremities in bearings in the front and rear standards above the upper rolls 9 and radial arms 19 of wire or its equivalent, the extremities of the arms being arranged to operate between the pickerfingers and close to the exterior surfaces of the aprons at the upper sides of the rolls 9.

In constructing a machine of this class a serious difficulty consists in providing pickerarms adapted to gather the opencotton from the plants without injury to the latter and without gathering trashs'uch as leaves, the small limbs, and portions of the outer husks of the bol1and yet will have sufficient surface to expose the necessary number of spurs to gather all of the loose cotton. Hence the more flexible the fingers are constructed with a given area of surface the more efficient they become for the purpose described. I have found in practice that for a given surface the most flexible finger and at the same time the lightest in weight can be made of hollow tubing, which is thus adapted to pass leaves, limbs, and unripe bolls as to detach any portions thereof and thereby gather it with the cotton. A hollow picker-finger is feather-like in its contact with the plant and yet can be made of sufficient surface to carry the requisite number of spurs to efficiently gather all of the loose cotton.

It is desirable to provide for the rapid rotation of the brushes, and in order to accomplish this I employ chain-wheels 20, secured to the front extremities of the spindles of the upper rolls, and similar chain-wheels 21, secured to the corresponding spindles at the front extremities of the brushes, said chainwheels being connected by chains 22, having their sides crossed to cause the brushes to operate in the reverse direction to the aprons. Thus while the rolls 7 and 9 rotate in the direetion necessary to cause the inner or facing sides of the picker-aprons to ascend,as shown by the arrows in Fig. 2, the brushes operate in the opposite direction, as indicated in the same figure, to cause the lower arms thereof to move outwardly.

In connection with the above mechanism I employ a conveyer 23, arranged near the upper sides of the brushes and in the plane of the longitudinal center of the frame, said conveyer consisting of a trough 2i, having outwardly-flared side walls, and an apron 25, the upper side of which traverses the bottom or floor of the trough. This apron is carried by front and rear rolls 20 and 27, and motion is communicated to the rear roll by means of a chain 28, which traverses chain-wheels 29 and 30, located, respectively, 011 one of the ground-wheels and one extremity of said rear roll 27. The parts are arranged to cause the upper side of the apron 25 to move rearwardly, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, whereby cotton deposited in the conveyer is carried to the rear and dropped into a suitable receptacle (not shown) which may be disposed upon the platform 31.

The cotton is detached from the pickerarms of the picker mechanism by the arms of the brushes and is carried by said arms to the conveyer 23; but in order to prevent the cotton from being thrown centrifugally from the arms of the brushes it is necessary to employ shields or hoods 32, which are crosssectionally curved and are held in place by end brackets 33, said shields or hoods having their lower edges located contiguous to the upper rolls of the picker mechanism and their upper edges arranged approximately above the centers of the brushes. In this connection I also employ deflectors SI, supported by end brackets 35 and arranged with their lower inner edges above the longitudinal center of the conveyer. Said deflectors are cross-sectionally segmental in construction and preferably consist of sheet-metal plates bent to the curved form described and fitted at their ends in kerfs 236, formed in said brackets The deflectors curve upwardly and outwardly over the sides of the conveyer, and thus catch the cotton as it is discharged by the brushes and cause it to drop into the conveyor. In the construction illustrated in Fig. 4 the deflectors 37 extend continuously from the center of the conveyor outward to the upper edges of the shields or hoods 38, the outer edges of the deflectors being secured in any preferred manner to the end brackets of the shields or hoods.

The apparatus is adapted to be drawn through the field parallel with a row of cotton-plants by horse-power, which is applied through a tongue 39, mounted on one of the front standards of the frame, and contiguous to said front standard is asingle caster-wheel IO, which supports the front end of the frame without preventing the rocking thereof which is necessary to allow it to follow inequalities in the surface of the soil. By allowing the machine to rock or follow the inequalities of the surface the straining of the parts is prevented, and hence the uniform operation of the mechanism is not impeded. Furtherm ore, the caster-wheel provides for the change with facility of the lateral position of: the front end of the frame with relation to the row of plants, whereby irregularities in the row may be compensated for without loss of time and the uniform picking of the cotton insured. Above the point of attachment of the tongue 39 is the drivers seat 4.1 (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) and a suitable foot-rest 4C2.

From the above description it will be seen that in operation motion is communicated from the ground-wheels to the various parts of the mechanism to cause the ascent of the inner or facing sides of the picker-aprons and the rapid rotation in the opposite direction of the brushes which detach the cotton from the picker-arms and deposit it in the conveyer. The eonveyer belt or apron is continuously driven in a uniform direction by means of connections with one of the groundwheels, and the cotton deposited thereon is thus conveyed to suitable receptacles upon a platform located at the rear end of the frame, said platform being of sufficient size to accommodate an attendant whose duty is to change the receptacles as they become filled.

The flexibility and at the same time elasticity of the picker-arms is of advantage by reason of the contact therewith of the plants in detaching the cotton from the same, and is of still further advantage when said arms are brought into operative relation with the arms of the brushes, inasmuch as the stripping of the cotton from the picker-arms may, by reason of this flexibility and elasticity, be accomplished without injury to the mechanism and without retarding the operation thereof.

Various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having described my invention, what I claim 18- 1. In a cotton-picker, the combination with a frame, of endless picker-aprons having upright inner sides, picker-fingers carried by the aprons, brushes arranged in operative relation with the aprons to detach the cotton from the picker-fingers, shields arranged in operative relation with the brushes, connections between the brushes and the means for carrying the aprons, whereby the brushes are operated at a speed greater than the aprons and in the opposite direction thereto, respectively, a central receptacle arranged between the planes of the aprons, and means for communicating motion to the aprons, substantially as specified.

2. In a cotton-picker, the combination with a frame, of endless picker-aprons carrying picker-fingers and mounted upon parallel upper and lower rolls, brushes arranged in operative relation with the aprons contiguous to the upper rolls to detach the cotton from the picker-fingers, connections between the upper rolls and the brushes, whereby the latter are rotated at a higher rate of speed than the former and respectively in directions opposite thereto, shields or hoods arranged around and in operative relation with the brushes, a conveyer arranged between and adapted to receive cotton from the brushes, and means for operating-the aprons, substantially as specified.

3. In a cotton-picker, the combination with a frame, of parallel side aprons provided with picker-fingers and mounted upon upper and lower rolls, brushes arranged in operative relation with the aprons at their upper ends and operatively connected with the upper rolls thereof to rotate respectively in directions opposite thereto, cross-sectionally-curved shields or hoods for the brushes, means for operating the said aprons to cause their inner sides to ascend, a conveyer arranged in the plane of the longitudinal center of the machine between said brushes, and having a trough and 'an endless apron traversing the bottom of the trough, and means for communicating mot-ion to said apron, substantially as specified.

4:. In a cotton-picker, the combination with a frame, of endless picker-aprons mounted upon opposite sides of the center of the frame and carrying picker-fingers, means for operating said aprons whereby their inner'or contiguous sides are caused to ascend, brushes arranged in operative relation with the aprons to detach cotton from the picker fingers, means for rotating the brushes at a higher rate of speed than the aprons and respectively in directions opposite thereto, cross-sectionally-curved shields or hoods for the brushes, a conveyer arranged in the plane of the longitudinal center of the frame and provided with an endless apron, means for communicating motion to the apron of the conveyer, and deflectors arranged in operative relation with the conveyer in the path of cotton discharged from the brushes, whereby the cotton is deflected into the conveyer, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ANTHONY S. MARTIN.

Witnesses:

WM. H. GALL, W. O. CALDWELL. 

